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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE GROUND-ROBIN, by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON Poet's Biography First Line: From a low birch-tree just outside my window Last Line: Sing on, ground-robin, sing! Subject(s): Faith; Grief; June; Love; New Hampshire; Robins; Summer; Belief; Creed; Sorrow; Sadness | |||
FROM a low birch-tree just outside my window, Here in the wind-fresh green New Hampshire country; All through the day, and even at the nightfall, Cheery, distinct, his heart a home for hope, His throat full swollen with desire of music, A little ground-robin sits and sings, Symbol of summer, neighbor dear to me. I never hear his note in other places; But when June comes, and I return to live Among the birches and memorial pines, Lo, faithful to the tryst, alert and buoyant, His strain familiar greets my welcoming soul, And seems the type of all time-keeping things, Rebuking chance and change. Illusion sweet Uprises with the sound; of all the birds I know, this songster speaks most plain to me, Making impermanence a very myth. So carol on, ground-robin! each green year I listen for you; it would be a grief Beyond mere words, some June, some fragrant morrow, To sit and hearken by the open window In vain; for in a flood of fond regret Would come a sense of loss, of unrequited Love, of faith broken at length, of fickle Friendship, and joy too beautiful to last: Sing on, ground-robin, sing! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONOMA FIRE by JANE HIRSHFIELD AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARDS by JOHN HOLLANDER WHAT GREAT GRIEF HAS MADE THE EMPRESS MUTE by JUNE JORDAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 19 by JAMES JOYCE DIRGE AT THE END OF THE WOODS by LEONIE ADAMS BLACK SHEEP by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON |
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